‘If Jesus were alive today He would take the knee adorned with a Pride flag.‘

The recent decree by Robert J. McManus , Bishop of the Diocese of Worcester in Massachusetts , prohibiting a Jesuit school for underprivileged boys  “from identifying itself as a ‘Catholic’ school” or using “the title ‘Catholic’ to describe itself.” is ‘a terrible error in judgement.’

The decree says that the Nativity school can no longer celebrate Mass, sacraments and sacramentals and they cannot be sponsored by Nativity School in any church building or chapel within the Diocese of Worcester.

It was issued after the school ignored warning letters from the Bishop and continued to fly Pride and Black Lives Matter flags. He wrote that ”As the Bishop of this diocese, I must teach that it is imperative that a Catholic School use imagery and symbols which are reflective of that school’s values and principles so as to be clear with young people who are being spiritually and morally formed for the future. ”

Condemning the Bishop’s actions Nativity President Thomas McKenney said the school would continue to fly both flags “to give visible witness to the school’s solidarity with our students, families, and their communities.” Defending the schools decision to honour the wishes of its pupils he added “As a multicultural school, the flags represent the inclusion and respect of all people,” “These flags simply state that all are welcome at Nativity and this value of inclusion is rooted in Catholic teaching. Commitment to our mission, grounded and animated by Gospel values, Catholic Social Teaching, and our Jesuit heritage compels us to do so.”

The Lay Pope ( thelaypope.com ) has called for the decree to be overturned and for the Bishop to be prohibited from identifying himself as a Catholic , using the title of Bishop, and prevented from saying Mass or celebrating the sacraments. In a statement he said : ” ….. denying these underprivileged and marginalised Catholic children the right to hear Mass and celebrate the sacraments in their school is at fundamental odds with the teachings of our Saviour Jesus Christ . If the Bishop truly believes that a sin has been committed by the schools refusal to remove inclusive flags the very last thing he should take is to turn his back on them and walk away. He should do what Jesus would do and go to the school and embrace them , inspire them with his words and try to help them to see the error of their ways. Jesus was attracted to sinners like a fish to water.”

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1Timothy 1:15)“

I believe this school is Christ centred but if the Bishop believes otherwise then he needs to act like Christ and go to them to talk face to face with them not to condemn innocent children and take away their daily school encounters with our Saviour. Christ would not close the school to Christian influence, He would get up close and personal with every student and teacher in the place every hour of every day. I wonder how many of these children may have one day become priests but who will now turn away from God because Bishop McManus tells them God has turned away from them. But you see Bishop McManus has an insurmountable problem in addressing this matter in the way Christ would. That is because the first young child the Bishop met in the corridors of Nativity middle school Wisconsin would enlighten him to the true meaning of Christus Veritatus Splendor: The splendid Truth that if Jesus walked into his school he would take the knee adorned with the Pride flag. That is a splendid Truth that the Bishop sadly cannot comprehend .

There is perhaps a more sinister angle to this most recent example of senior Catholic clergy undermining Pope Francis. If you can put aside the damage that this decree will have on the children of Nativity themselves it is almost as if some Catholic clergy are painstakingly looking for opportunities to undermine Pope Francis and then mobilising a well organised media machine which is on a war footing to assault his position as soon as he speaks out. The Bishop’s action is in direct contradiction to Pope Francis’ ambitions for a more inclusive church, and will no doubt be seen as yet another example of traditionlists “gagging” the church’s attempts to modernize. The Pope has lamented “The number of groups of ‘restorers’—for example, in the United States there are many—is significant,” Speaking to the editors of the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica he said that “Restorationism has come to gag the council.” In a recent letter to Fr. James Martin on the occasion of the Outreach LGBTQ Catholic Ministry Conference, he encouraged those who minister to the L.G.B.T. “flock” to approach them in the “style of God,” which he described as incorporating “closeness, compassion and tenderness.”

In isolation Bishop McManus’ decree seems fairly innocuous , an ill informed error of judgement but on closer inspection it appears to have the ‘odour of the Devil’ about it. It is no coincidence that at a time when Francis says that Christ would not turn away members of the LGBTQ+ community a senior cleric issues an episcopal decree imposing the highest sanctions it can on a Catholic school for daring to fly inclusive flags. This is a direct challenge to the Popes authority and a rebuke of the direction that he is taking the Church. These are not the actions of an isolated Bishop … These are the actions of a traditionalist footsoldier eager to wage war on a modernising Church which is striving to embrace an inclusive Christ centred future. It is indicative of a concerted effort by some to close down the parameters of our Church’s Synod on Synodality effectively limiting discussions to non contentious matters and ruling out any chance of progress on those issues that the lay faithful tell us matter most . The stakes are high. If ever there was a time to invoke the Holy Spirits support and guidance on how we should respond to the growing ‘ medieval mindset ‘ exemplified by the likes of Bishop McManus it is now.

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If I am elected Pope I will issue a Papal decree prohibiting any priest, bishop, archbishop or cardinal from removing the Catholic status of any Catholic establishment.

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“I may speak in tongues of men or of angels but if I am without Love I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I may have the gift of prophesy and know every hidden truth; I may have Faith strong enough to move mountains but if I have no Love I am nothing. I may dole out all I possess or even give my body to be burnt but if I have no Love I am none the better. Love is patient; Love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful nor conceited nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love takes no score of wrongs; does not gloat over others men’s sins but delights in the Truth. There is nothing Love cannot face; there is no limit to its Faith, its Hope and its Endurance.”
1 Corinthians 13: 1-7